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Shadow Hills High marching band jams at Coachella

On Sunday, 34 students from the Shadow Hills High School marching band joined Big Gigantic on stage at the Coachella Valley Music and Art Festival. In this video, students talk about the performance.
Brett Kelman/The Desert Sun

Maddy Cano, center, a sophomore at Shadow Hills High School, performs with Big Gigantic in the Sahara tent during the third day of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, CA, Sunday April 13, 2014.
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INDIO – As the speakers thumped and a saxophone wailed, Maddy Cano stepped to the front of the stage facing a massive crowd, trombone in hand. This was a moment normally reserved for rock stars and rappers, but here she was, a high school sophomore from Indio standing in the spotlight at the 2014 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.

"It was a once in a lifetime experience," said Cano, 16. "Not everyone gets to say they played at Coachella."

Cano was one of 34 local high school students who took to the Sahara Tent stage at the famed music festival on Sunday. The Shadow Hills High marching band joined Big Gigantic — a "jamtronica" duo that combines electronic music, hip hop and live performances — for two songs.

"Coachella, we love you so much," shouted Dominic Lalli, Big Gigantic front man, to introduce the students. "We are going to being some friends out right now from the Shadow Hills High School Marching Band, from right right here in Indio, California. We are going to rock this one out with these guys."

The marching band appeared on stage about halfway through the hour-long set, just as Big Gigantic launched a remix of Aloe Blacc's soulful ballad "I Need a Dollar." The students returned at the end of the set for Big Gigantic's final song, a remix of "Can't Hold Us" by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis. Students bounced with the thumping rhythm as they blasted horns at the front of the stage.

The marching band will return to Coachella this Sunday for weekend 2, when Big Gigantic performs again.

Lalli, the saxophonist and producer of Big Gigantic, said Monday that he has wanted to use a high school marching band in a concert for a few years, but hadn't brought the plan to fruition until Sunday.

Lalli said the the idea was a return to his musical roots. He started playing the saxophone in sixth grade, but didn't expect to turn music into a career. Later, juggling high school academics, sports and band felt like too much, but adults encouraged him to keeping him playing. Lalli hoped to give the students at Shadow Hills high the same kind of encouragement.

"Really, at the end of the day, what I hope is that it inspires the kids, and they realize that anything is possible," Lalli said Monday. "I was just like they were. … Hopefully it inspires those kids to take whatever they are doing to the next level."

The origins of Sunday's performance happened weeks ago, when Big Gigantic asked the music festival to help find a local marching band to share the stage. The festival reached out to the city of Indio, who in turn connected the musical duo with Shadow Hills High School. Students had about a week to prepare, said band director Paul Bluto.

Lalli and Salken visited Shadow Hills High School on Sunday afternoon to rehearse with the marching band, but students didn't step onto a Coachella stage until the main event. The set began at about 8 p.m., in front of an estimated crowd of about 25,000.

Tristan Bluto, a Shadow High senior who plays the mellaphone, said he had expected to be nervous, but after a week of preparation the performance felt like "second nature." Despite the pressure, students were just having fun, he said.

"There was a part on the last song — they did a remix of "Can't Hold Us" — where everybody was singing the words," Bluto said. "Twenty-five thousand people, all singing the words up at you, and all that energy is coming at you. I'm never going to forget what I felt at that moment. It was just … surreal."

This performance is just the latest way that the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival has connected to local schools in recent years.

Goldenvoice, the company behind the festival, donates hundreds of entry wristbands to the Coachella Valley Unified School District each year, fueling a district program that rewards students with perfect attendance. The festival also invites local students for a mid-week tour of the festival's outrageous art exhibits.

Education Reporter Brett Kelman can be reached by phone at 760 778 4642, by e-mail at brett.kelman@desertsun.com, or on Twitter at @TDSbrettkelman.